Manufactured Urgency
Craft of the Bad-Faith Actor
Cybersecurity researcher Alex Kasper is at work on a new book, Manufactured Urgency: Craft of the Bad-Faith Actor, which examines one of the most common yet least discussed techniques shared by social engineers, cybercriminals, scammers, propagandists, manipulative marketers, and, increasingly, attackers targeting artificial intelligence: the manufacture of urgency, large or small.
The Core Concept
The central idea is basic: for most deception to succeed, the target only needs to believe that there is either no need, or no time, to think the situation through, and that they must act now.
From Subtle to Hair-on-Fire
The message may be subtle (“We just need quick help with a paperwork issue,” “Oh, you dropped this,” “The manual was updated”) or hair-on-fire (“Someone said this about you,” “Your bank account has been compromised and your money is gone,” “Your CEO needs this immediately,” “A relative is in trouble,” even “The building is on fire!”).
Notably, it is almost never a medium-sized problem that could be handled in due course. Across all these registers, urgency is the underlying mechanism that suppresses skepticism and pushes people toward action. The book lays out a repeatable, field-proven framework for creating that urgency in the mind of a target, and argues that the same pattern runs across a surprisingly broad range of attacks, whatever the technology or medium.
A Pattern, Not a Catalog
Drawing on more than four decades in information security, social engineering, and deception research, including his early years hacking and later writing and teaching alongside renowned security consultant Kevin Mitnick, Kasper illustrates the common framework behind attacks usually treated as unrelated. Rather than cataloging individual scams or technical exploits, Manufactured Urgency sets out to reveal the pattern of techniques that make them all work.
When the Target Is a Machine
The project also reaches beyond traditional cybersecurity. As AI systems become woven into everyday life, security researchers have shown that this same pattern can be adapted to manipulate large language models and automated decision-making systems. The book examines these emerging parallels, suggesting that the principles behind human manipulation may prove just as important to understanding attacks against machines designed to think like humans.
Catching Manipulation Before You React
Instead of chasing the latest phishing campaign or social engineering trick, Manufactured Urgency gives readers a framework for recognizing, in real time, the underlying tactics that hold steady even as technologies change. By understanding how bad-faith actors manufacture pressure, readers can learn to catch manipulation before they react to it, and to build systems that do the same.
In Development
The book is currently in development, with additional research and excerpts to be published on AlexKasper.com as the project progresses.